Pr Royston Smith - Divine Rest for Human Tensions

Adventist Radio London. Inspiration for the song we are living in a world of

tensions and there's a need for divine wrest, a world of chaos, a

world where people are tired and exhausted, and people are fed up with life,

and there's a need for human rest. You know, as I reflect

back in time, the story is told of fighting in World War two and

those who work in the factories developing arms. We're working for seventy four hours

per week. As they work, they got tired and decayed and growing absenteesm

people started getting sick and somehow they didn't know what to do. But one

wise authority decided to do an experiment and they allow the workers one day to

rest. To everyone's surprise, the level of production increased. It was then

thought to reduce the average working hour from seventy four hours to forty eight hours

per week. As a result, things improved by fifteen percent and the workers

were energized. Morale rose. My friend. Science have proved that corporal fatigue

produce eight to ten hours of work can be eliminated normally with eight hours of

rest, but mental fatigue caused by daily problems required an additional day off week.

In other words, as human beings, we were structured to have rest.

The reason for this is while we sleep, our mind remains active much

of the time. As the mind and the body are closely related, that

mental fatigue can be the reason why we often feel tired when we get up.

Some of us go to bed and we wake up more tired than before

we slept, because during the night we're thinking and reflecting their so many issues

that are going on inside of our minds Our creator, God left in his

Holy Word the necessary steps for us to enjoy healthy and happy lives. We

should not just be surviving, we should be thriving. He blessed us,

He blessed us, He he sanctified us hee. He set apart for us

what is called the Sabbath, the sabbath that was blessed. That is,

he said it apart from the rest of the week, so that we could

be chilled. We could have time for fellowship. We should have time to

lay and leave everything behind amidst the tension of life. He did this,

God did this for our good. I like what John writes in third John,

chapter one and verse two. He reads it reads it says, beloved,

I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health,

just as your soul prospered. Or as Paul writes in One Corinthians, chapter

three, sixteen, do you know that you are the temple of God and

the spirit of God dwells in you. God wants you to prosper and be

in good health. God wants to dwell with you and in you. Understand

this. We should not allow anything or anyone to take away the right to

rest on the day that God set apart for happiness. Let us know then,

the instructions that the Lord gave us regarding the observance of the Sabbath.

He acts that on this day we do no work. And I know that

when we apply this principle, it makes us happy. Let's see what Exodus

says in Exodus chapter twenty and verse ten. In it, you shall do

no work. You know your son, nor your daughter, nor your male

servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who

is within your gates. If you turn away isaaa f eight verse three.

If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on

my day, and call the sabbath a delight Verse thirteen. Still the holy

of the Lord honorable, and shall him not doing your own thing for a

certain still, nor finding your own pleasure or speaking your own words, then

you shall delight yourself in the Lord. The Sabbath, my friends, is

a day of rest. The Sabbath is a time for you to connect with

yourself internally. Some of us we are in emotional turmoil. We don't know

who we are. But when we find time on the Sabbath to rest,

we discover that we are children of God. Some of us we struggle with

our relationship with those around us. We struggle with fellowshipping. But when we

take a rest on the Sabbath, we discover that we are more similar than

we are different. And if only we spend time talking and sharing with each

other, then life would be totally different. Exodus twenty eleven says God will

is that in the hour of this day, remember that He is our creator

and personal savior. Exodus twenty eleven four. In six days, the Lord

made the heavens and the earth. Therefore the Lord bless the Sabbath day,

and he hollowed it. Lord rejoices when we turn away from the chaos and

the problems of this world to contemplate the work of his hands. Do you

know, my friends, what would you like to know about many of us?

We do not spend time to admire the awness. We do not spend

time to recognize the beauty of this world because we are caught up in what's

happening around us. We are so busy that we do not enjoy or time

with God. Luke Chapter twelve, verse twenty seven brings us to nature.

It says, consider the lilies, feel how they grow? And yet I

say to you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not to

ray like one of these, my friends. The heavens, the clear,

the glory of God, and the firmament show it his handiworks day on today,

ortered speech, and night on tonight show it knowledge, my friends.

When we look at the beauty of heaven, we see the glory of God.

Matthew four, verse four. Jesus says that man shall not live by

bread alone. Our bodies need material food, but the healthiest food for a

mind is having a spirit of gratitude and praise. Worship is the main purpose

of Sabbath observance, and so the Sabbath is not just for fellowshipping with your

fellow human beings. It not just for a time for you to chill in

and have an internal flushing off your system. It's a time for you to

give honor and glory to God. Let's see what Psalm twenty one twenty two,

Verse one. Psalm one twenty two one says. I was glad when

they said on to me, let us go into the house of the Lord.

Oh, somebody says, this is the day, talking about the Sabbath

that the Lord has made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it.

So when I go to church on a Saturday, which is the Sabbath,

it should not be something casual, but as a custom. It was Jesus

Christ. That's why Pablo advises us that we should enjoy our time with God

on the Sabbath. So a lot of people say to me, Pastor Smith,

I can watch from home, I can have an hybrid service. But

hear what Hebrews ten twenty five says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,

as it is the manner of some, but exhorting one another so much

that the more you see the day approaching. Yes, my friends, technology

has advanced and things have changed, and we can you tube, and we

can tike it talk and we can face a book. We can do all

of these things. But there's this social human element of touching voice with voice,

of touching hands with hands, coming into the presence of God, and

worshiping God with your fellow human beings. Therefore, during the Sabbath hours,

we have enough time to study the Holy Word and have the joy of serving

others by visiting the sick and comfortingly afflicted, helping the need, and announcing

the glad tithing of the Gospel of Christ to those in search of a better

life. Sabbath should be a time of reflection. It should be a time

of rejoicing. It should be a time of rejuvenating, and it should be

a time when your relationship with God grows stronger and stronger because you have spent

the week connecting with God. And so Sabbath is the time to share with

God. So Matthew twenty eight nineteen says, go therefore and make disciples of

all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit. Sabbath should also be a time not just for

us to sit in church, but to share the Gospel of Christ with those

around us. We know that everything that we consider valuable, such as happiness,

requires effort on our behalf to reach and to keep it. That is

why it is important that we develop our will. It will help us reject

temptation when necessary. It will be possible to rest on Sabbath according to the

commandments, as long as we abandon our obligation of the six days of work

on this day. You know, some of us we rest on Sunday,

we rest on Monday, we rest on We do not work. You cannot

enjoy the Sabbath unless you work before you rest. The eutronomy five, verse

fourteen, God says and it you shall do no work, nor your son,

nor your daughter, nor your male servant nor your female servant, no

your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gait. Is a time

to close businesses, abandon our daily task, nor buying nor selling. Instead,

we give this day to God. Isaiah says that even though even our

thoughts and whole words are to be in accordance with the divine will, Saturday

Sabbath is the day when you stop talking about life's problems, and you talk

about God's love. When you put aside a newspaper and turn off the television,

or turn off TikTok or close down Facebook, you put aside, put

aside those social medias and even those what's up conversations that we have, and

we open our Bibles and other books, and we spend time in nourishing the

soul and connecting with those around us. By nourishing with the Gospel of peace

and rest from the tension of life. The prophet teaches us that the day

consecrated to God begins with the sunset on the horizon on Friday afternoon and ends

at sunset on Sabbath. I know you're asking that question. This is what

Lividicas twenty three thirty two says. From evening to evening, you shall celebrate

your Sabbath. Seeing Apostolic time, Friday was called the preparation day. Remember

those days when we would clean the house, we would iron the clothes,

we would cook the meal, and put everything aside. A special meal was

made for Sabbath, and so Sabbath came a day of spiritual feasting, and

not so much a day of spiritual feasting, but a day of spiritual feasting.

In Exodus sixteen twenty three, Moses wrote, this is what the Lord

has said. Tomorrow is a sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord.

Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil,

and lay up for yourself all that remains to be kept until the morning.

My friends, on this day, we could ask ourselves, what should I

do today so that I do not have to do it during that sacred hour.

Some things we will inevitably have to do on Saturday. I know,

my friends, pastor, what can I not do on Saturday? Well,

let me advise you. Do spread your bed, do eat food that is

healthy on the Sabbath day, and make sure the table is clean and your

environment is looked after. Make sure if you're caring for your loved ones,

they are looked after. The Sabbath must not become a day of stress.

It must become a day of rest. The Sabbath must not become a burden.

It must become a time of joy. We should do everything in our

powers on the Sabbath to help those who need urgent needs. I remember one

Sabbath day I was going to church and somebody fell ill along the roadside.

I was walking to church. I stopped what I was doing. I wasn't

going to be preaching that Sabbath morning. And even if I was going to

be preaching, someone needed help. But I stopped, and I helped that

person and went to the hospital with them. The Sabbath should be a day

of rest, but it must be a day of blessing and another day of

a pressing. We should allow the Sabbath to become a time of rejoicing.

Matthew twelve seven says, But if you had not known what this means,

I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condone the guiltless.

Matthew twelve twelve says, Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the

Sabbath. What should he do in case we are forced to work during Sabbath

hours, because the Bible tells us that we should rest, there are some

acts of mercy. There are some acts that we must perform on the Sabbath.

The apostle Peter wrote the apostle Peter says in Acts five, verse nine.

Peter and the other apostle answer and said, we ought to obey God

rather than man. No man on earth has received sufficient authority to take away

the blessings of God's holy day. Isaiah teaches Us and Isaia fifty six,

verse two to four and fourteen. He says, blessed is the man who

who does this, and the son whould lay all on it, who keeps

from defiling the Sabbath and keep his hands from doing any evil. Then you

shall delight yourself in the Lord. And I'll cause you to ride wait for

this on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage

of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The

wholeness of Sabbath not only gives peace to the soul, but it secures the

eternal inheritance promise to the righteous. When you follow God, God will bless

you. That is why Matthew six twenty five says, Therefore, I said,

you do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or

what you will drink, nor anything about your body what you will do.

It is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing.

And then Matthew six thirty three says, but seek he first the Kingdom of

God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added on to you.

When you follow God, when you listen to the voice of God,

God provides for you. So let me ask the Lord for you this today,

to give you enough confidence, to give you enough firmness, to give

you enough opportunity to walk with him. Do you know, my friends,

I remember when I was working somewhere and I was told that I had to

work on the Sabbath day. I shared my faith with the employer and I

told them tomorrow is not my day. It is God's day. They said

to me, Royston, if you don't come to work tomorrow, then don't

come on Monday. I didn't turn up on Saturday, but I did turn

up on Monday. God has a way of working things out for his people.

Romans, Chapter eight, verse thirty. It says, for I'm persuaded

that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not powers,

nor things present nor things to come. You will be challenged, my

friends. There will be challenges. There will be challenges from higher powers.

There'll be challenges from people who are your colleagues and your mate. They will

tell you that it is only a day. They will tell you that you

can do whatever you want to do because God will forgive you, my friends.

That is presumption. If God tells you to do something, you need

to listen to the voice of God. Because Peter continues. Paul continues in

Romans eight thirty nine, Neither death, nor height, nor any creature shall

be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ

Jesus, My friends, are you having tension in your life? Are you

having challenges in your life? Are you working? Are you becoming so exhausted

that you don't know what to do? I want to bring you this morning

the word of God to let you know that God wants you to prosper,

that God wants you to be in good health. That God is saying to

you. Listen, my friends, your body belongs to me. And the

only way to ease those tensions is to embrace the day that I've given to

you. It's called the Sabbath. There's rest for the weary, there is

help for those who are burden, there's hope for those who see no hope,

and there's joy for those who are having emotional turmoil. God has given

to us that day, that day that is called the Sabbath. Oh,

there's a song I close with It says Holiday Jehovah's Rest of creation weeks,

the best, last of all the chosen seven bless of God to man was

given. Welcome, welcome, ever, welcome, welcome the day that God

has given to you. Are you having tension in your life? Are you

stressed out? Then, my friends, I give to you the Sabbath day

of rest. Amen Adventist Radio London inspiration for the song